updated 05:40 am EST, Wed February 12, 2014

Advertising would appear for new users on empty New Tab page

Mozilla plans to add advertisements to the Firefox browser, the company announced at a recent Interactive Advertising Bureau meeting. The new advertisements will take the form of "Directory Tiles," items on a page when a user opens a new, empty tab, and will apparently only affect new users of the browser rather than those who have used it for some time.

At present, the New Tab page consists of nine boxes, currently empty to new users. Instead of being blank, Mozilla plans to add a selection of websites and sponsored links to the page, reportsCNET, which will be replaced by links to recent or frequently-visited websites. Darren Herman, VP of Content Services at Mozilla, claims some of the tiles will be from "the Mozilla ecosystem," Popular sites based on location, and some sponsored content from chosen partners. "The sponsored tiles will be clearly labeled as such, while still leading to content we think users will enjoy," said Herman.

Mozilla Firefox

Though not immediate with Herman claiming it will be introduced "as soon as we have the user experience right," the change will take place on the desktop browser, before spreading onto Firefox for Android and devices running Firefox OS.